Consumer products such as cosmetics, personal care and household products are designed to provide a wide range of desirable properties and benefits to various substrates such as keratinous substrates, hard surfaces, and other non-keratinous substrates, for example, fabrics and personal articles. Generally, these products deliver benefit agents to a substrate. These products can also be designed to protect said substrates from extreme environmental conditions or from physical contact such as rubbing or from exposure to water, humidity, moisture or other liquids.
In particular, when keratinous substrates such as skin and hair are exposed to environmental conditions, for example, high or low humidity or to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, these substrates can lose many of their desirable properties and even become damaged. The appearance and condition of skin and hair can also be affected by ultraviolet exposure and aging. For example, skin can become dry and flaky, while hair can dry out and lose its shine or color or become frizzy and less manageable under low and high humidity conditions. Under low humidity conditions, hair can dry out and dried-out hair tends to be less shiny and more brittle. Conversely, under high humidity conditions, hair tends to absorb water causing hair to lose its shape and become unmanageable and unattractive. Furthermore, hair can lose its desirable attributes due to physical stress on the hair such as brushing and application of heat.
As a result, consumers continue to seek products such as sunscreens, skin care, hair care and hair cosmetic compositions which protect and enhance the appearance of skin and hair as well as reduce the deleterious effects of adverse environmental conditions, photo-damage, and physical stress. It is thus important to ensure that the beneficial properties of such products remain on the skin and hair by making these products water resistant and/or able to provide a protective barrier or hydrophobicity to the skin and hair as well as durable or long-lasting hydrophobicity.
Water resistant products do not easily “run off” or wash off when the skin and hair are exposed to water, rain, and tears or upon sweating nor easily transfer from the skin or hair because of normal every day activity. These products also tend to have long wearing and transfer-resistant properties, that is, they adhere longer to surfaces and to keratinous substrates. Commercial products which have these properties may require high amounts of paraffin, fatty alcohols, petrolatum, Vaseline, waxes or oils, e.g., mineral oil. Other customary barrier agents are silicones and conventional film forming agents or polymers. However, such ingredients still present many disadvantages; for example, high levels of oils and hydrocarbon-based ingredients make the skin or hair greasy, waxes can give an unpleasant aesthetic look and feel, and silicones can leave residues and may give an uncomfortable feel and wear.
Thus, there still exists a need to find other materials or compositions that can provide a water-resistant and/or protective barrier to the skin and hair and which do not require the customary barrier agents.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide materials and compositions which provide a water resistant protective barrier onto skin and hair, as well as impart durable or long lasting hydrophobicity and improve the water resistance of cosmetic and personal care compositions. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a water resistant composition that can function as a carrier and/or matrix for desired benefit agents used to benefit skin and hair.